Satellite Soul<\/a>\u00a0our record deal in 1997, and he changed all of our lives\u00a0forever. Granted, the phrase \u201cchanged my life\u201d is now used\u00a0to describe anything from a song to a fast-food burrito, but in this case it happens to be literally true. The tribute I pay to this man is the honest to goodness truth: John Fry\u2019s impact was life altering for many, many people. He\u00a0was the hub of a wheel whose spokes touched every part of the American music business, and countless lives of creative people.<\/p>\nThe Memphis Commercial Appeal said it well: \u201cFor fifty years, he was the rock of Memphis music. A visionary who built a world-renowned studio, he was a sonic innovator and an local industry linchpin. More than anything, though, John Fry was a mentor: to the legendary band Big Star, and to a generation of musicians and music professionals for whom he served as a guiding light, father figure and friend.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fry \u2018s impact on Christian music was perhaps even more profound. It was a labor of love, and an incredible list of artists draw their lines to and from Ardent Records, the\u00a0label\u00a0Fry founded.\u00a0Big Tent Revival, Skillet, Smalltown Poets, Satellite Soul, Jeremy Horn, Todd Agnew, Clear, Altogether Separate, Justified, Joy Whitlock, NonFiction, and Jonah33 all came from the Ardent Label. Records by DC Talk, Audio Adrenaline, Degarmo & Key, Jennifer Knapp, Grammatrain, and many others were mixed in his studio. John Fry\u2019s legacy extends over decades of Christian music.<\/p>\n
That John had this type\u00a0of impact is due to the fact that he was a wise steward of his life, his abilities, his resources, his time, and his heart. John was kind\u2013gentle even. He\u00a0possessed an economy of words, getting\u00a0more accomplished with a solitary, laconic sentence than most of the rest of us could if we\u00a0blathered on for hours, which we did. On any given day at Ardent\u00a0one\u00a0would\u00a0find the\u00a0studios full of creative personalities; the full spectrum: moody, flamboyant, attention deficient, irresponsible, brilliant, insightful, ingenious, inspired, neurotic, and disturbed. In order for that to work, somebody has to have their feet on the ground. That was John Fry. Grounded. Whatever else was going on in that building, John Fry could always see the big picture.<\/p>\n
It was John\u2019s great love for music, and for the creative people who always seemed to struggle to find ways to record their songs and get them in the hands of the public, that drove him to pursue recording and engineering. He was a Southern gentleman in the best sense\u2013a dying breed. His sense of humor was dry\u2013Mojave-desert-dry, saltines-crackers-dry\u2013but brilliant, and never cruel. When folks\u00a0circled up for an ad-hoc conversation in the studio, the smart move was to\u00a0stand next\u00a0to Fry. He was going to direct a couple of hilarious side-remarks\u00a0out of the corner of his mouth and you had to be close to hear them. John played the straight man to a lot of unconventional\u00a0people.<\/p>\n
My first introduction to John Fry was the day Dana Key invited me and my band to spend a day in the studio recording demos for a record deal. As we were loading in and setting up, John shook my hand and introduced himself. He asked me about my family, my wife, my church, my musical influences, what our band was doing at the time. He introduced me to one of his cats\u2013John loved these dang studio cats who roamed free at Ardent. I think he could tell I was anxious. He said, \u201cRelax, You are in good hands today.\u201d He was talking about Paul Ebersold and Skidd Mills, the producers on our first project,\u00a0two greats in a long line of prolific engineers and producers in whom John Fry invested his trust.<\/p>\n
At first, I thought he was a suit\u2013just the guy who signed the checks. Then Paul and Skidd started telling us stories about what he had done in the studio, who he had produced, recorded, and what kind of impact he had on the music business. Ardent was\u00a0Bob Dylan, Led Zeppelin, Al Green, Z-Z TOP, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Big Star, the Fabulous Thunderbirds, the Allman Brothers, B.B. King, Robert Cray, Waylon Jennings, and R-E-M. Fry made it happen. I remember Ebersold saying, \u201cHe\u2019s forgotten more about engineering than I\u2019ll ever know.\u201d<\/p>\n
John wandered into the studio periodically throughout that first day. Once you are in for demos, you know there\u2019s a good possibility the label\u00a0wants to work with you. The big question at that point is\u00a0about the songs. Do you have enough material for a record? Are the songs good enough? We put a good 30 tracks down live to tape in about twelve hours.\u00a0His only\u00a0comment was about the song,\u00a0Equal to the Fall<\/em>. He said, \u201cIf you don\u2019t put that on the record, I\u2019m tearing up your contract.\u201d It was a vote of confidence I\u2019ll never forget.<\/p>\nAs I was slowly enfolded into the Ardent tradition, the John Fry stories trickled out, each one more unlikely than the last. His one liners were the wisdom literature of the studios. Over\u00a0all the months of days I spent making records in that building, John would nearly always poke his head in the door. He was just making sure we\u00a0had everything we needed. I never heard him say an unkind word. The worst day at Ardent beats the best day almost anywhere else. That was the world John Fry created.<\/p>\n
John was a shrewd business mind to be sure\u2013not that I can judge, I\u2019m the world\u2019s worst business person\u2013but the heart of his business model was to surround himself with people he genuinely liked. I think perhaps he\u00a0did this because he had already decided that\u00a0he was going to be a kind and generous person who cared about other people. He might as well be that way for those\u00a0he believed in, people who wouldn\u2019t take advantage of him for\u00a0his good heartedness. Ardent, therefore, was a verdant and capacious place. He was generous and kind, so Ardent took on those characteristics.\u00a0\u201cYour moods are affected by your surroundings,\u201d Fry said. \u201cI think there is something that operates in Memphis\u2026and at Ardent. I can\u2019t explain what it is. You come record here, something good happens to you.\u201d Indeed.<\/p>\n
John\u2019s generosity toward those who were just coming up in the business left a deep impact on many lives, mine included. His passion for listening morphed into a passion for recording, then into a desire to groom the next generation, and pass along all that\u00a0he had learned. John\u00a0once said, \u201cIf you acquire knowledge or skill or even wisdom, and you just keep it, then when you die, that dies with you. But if you share that with other generations \u2014 who in turn will share it and share it and share it \u2014 you\u2019re doing something that lasts.\u201d<\/p>\n
John\u2019s work will last. His legacy certainly transcends\u00a0musical excellence. John\u2019s\u00a0spirit of integrity, character, honesty, kindness, and generosity will live on through the lives of those he mentored and cared for. I will be forever grateful to be a tiny part of his vast\u00a0legacy.
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![\"John](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/230\/2014\/12\/John-Fry.jpg\")
<\/a>One doesn\u2019t typically use words like character, integrity, genuine, honest, and kind\u00a0to describe executives in the music business, but that\u2019s how those who knew him will surely remember John Fry. John was a singular figure in Memphis music. Reeling from the death\u00a0of John Hampton just one\u00a0week ago, the Ardent family of music producers, engineers, artists, and executives are now left to reckon\u00a0with the sudden loss of the man who made it all possible. John Fry died yesterday afternoon, December 18, and left a hole in the hearts of the many people whose lives he touched.<\/p>\n